Music powers NBC on Monday

'Voice,' Shelton special sweep timeslots in demos

NBC continues to rule Monday night’s this fall as “The Voice” and a good showing for the special “Blake Shelton’s Not So Family Christmas” kept the Peacock ahead of its rivals in key demos.

NBC was the top-rated broadcaster among adults 18-49 for an 11th straight Monday to start the season, its longest such streak in the 25-year history of the Nielsen people meter sample. ESPN was expected to win the night when the nationals come in with its “Monday Night Football” matchup between the New York Giants and Washington Redskins, and the attractive contest likely stole some viewers away from the broadcasters.

According to preliminary national estimates from Nielsen, “The Voice” averaged a 3.9 rating/10 share in adults 18-49 and 12 million viewers overall from 8 to 10 p.m., down a bit week to week but winning among the Big Four in each half-hour. And keeping the net on top was the Shelton holiday special (2.8/7 in 18-49, 9.0 million viewers overall), which performed nearly as well as last week’s fall finale of drama “Revolution” and bested its broadcast competition among adults 18-49 and 25-54 (3.4/8).

While NBC led each half-hour among the major networks in demos, CBS ran second but was down from its season highs of last week when the lineup was aided by a special repeat of “The Big Bang Theory” in the 8:30 p.m. slot. “How I Met Your Mother” (3.0/9 in 18-49, 8.2 million viewers overall) tied “The Voice” for the 8 p.m. lead in 18-34 (2.7/9), and was followed by a special encore of “2 Broke Girls” (2.2/6 in 18-49, 6.7 million viewers overall) leading into an original episode of the half-hour (3.5/9 in 18-49, 10.1 million viewers overall).

“Mike & Molly” (3.1/8 in 18-49, 10.2 million viewers overall) continues to show good retention of “2 Broke Girls” at 9:30 p.m., and “Hawaii Five-0″ (2.2/6 in 18-49, 9.2 million viewers overall) held up best week to week, off just a tick.

It was slower going at Fox and ABC, with the former down week to week with both “Bones” (1.9/5 in 18-49, 7.3 million viewers overall for its 150th episode) and “The Mob Doctor” (0.8/2 in 18-49, 3.3 million viewers overall). And the Alphabet is not getting much out of its holiday-themed “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” specials, with Monday’s settling for a 1.0/3 in 18-49 and 4.4 for its two hours. And that led to a season low at 10 p.m. for “Castle” (1.7/4 in 18-49, 8.4 million viewers overall).